Jean-Pierre Aguilar (9 August 1960 – 4 July 2009) was a French entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder and chief executive of

Capital Fund Management Capital Fund Management (CFM) is a global asset management company based in Paris with staff in New York City, London, and Sydney. CFM takes a scientific and academic approach to finance, using quantitative and systematic techniques to develop al ...

Biography

Jean-Pierre Aguilar studied engineering and computer science at the

Grenoble Institute of Technology The Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP) (''Institut polytechnique de Grenoble'', ''Groupe Grenoble INP'' and before INPG) is a French technological university system consisting of eight engineering and management schools. Grenoble INP ...

, before receiving his business degree from the

HEC Paris HEC Paris (french: École des hautes études commerciales de Paris) is a business school, and one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles, located in Jouy-en-Josas, France. HEC offers Master in Management, MSc International Fi ...

. He started his financial career in 1986, working for the brokerage firm LeGrand before leaving in 1988 to found the finance software company Ubitrade. In 1991, he co-founded Capital Fund Management, which rapidly grew into France's largest and most successful

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

. In 1994, along with

Jean-Philippe Bouchaud Jean-Philippe Bouchaud (born 1962) is a French physicist. He is co-founder and chairman of Capital Fund Management (CFM), adjunct professor at École Normale Supérieure and co-director of the CFM-Imperial Institute of Quantitative Finance at Im ...

he set up the ''Science & Finance'' research society, which conducted scientific work on a consultancy basis, while working exclusively for CFM on financial research. In 2000, the two entities merged. In 2004, Aguilar sold Ubitrade to GL Trade for an undisclosed amount.

Death

On the morning of 4 July 2009, Aguilar died aged 49 during a

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word ''soaring'' is al ...

accident near the airport of

Barcelonnette Barcelonnette (; oc, Barciloneta de Provença, also ; obsolete it, Barcellonetta) is a commune of France and a subprefecture in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is located in the southern ...

, a town in the French Alps. His co-pilot, Michel Fache, president of the local gliding club, also died in the crash. The

succession plan Succession planning is a process and strategy for replacement planning or passing on leadership roles. It is used to identify and develop new, potential leaders who can move into leadership roles when they become vacant. Succession planning in di ...

set in place by Aguilar for Capital Fund Management was hailed as an example for corporate succession planning during emergencies.

References

1960 births 2009 deaths HEC Paris alumni {{France-business-bio-stub